


However Long Before

by Katherine



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Book: Crookedstar's Promise, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:15:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24374140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katherine/pseuds/Katherine
Summary: This was the barn where he had stayed when he was still carrying the name Crookedkit, had arrived there disbelieving and hurt then found what had almost been a second family.
Relationships: Crookedstar & Fleck, Domino/Fleck (Warriors)
Kudos: 13





	However Long Before

This was the barn where he had stayed when he was still carrying the name Crookedkit, had arrived there disbelieving and hurt then found what had almost been a second family. The place looked much the same, all this time later. The big ginger cat coming towards him now had to be Fleck, although he moved more slowly, and was that grey in his pelt?

*

"I'm the leader of RiverClan," Crookedstar said proudly, and then, because it was a fact as important, "I have a daughter. Silverkit. She's so like her mother was."

"Was," Fleck echoed. Then, with a depth of sympathy, "It is hard to lose a mate to death. Very hard."

Crookedstar started to form a question, his mouth working, but it went unvoiced as Fleck continued.

"When I said I'd kin who hurt his jaw..." There was a purr under Fleck's words, but a note of strain in his voice as well.

"Oh," Crookedstar said, realising what Fleck meant in a flash like a trout jumping. Fleck and Domino, however long before.

"You wild cats can be strange about that," Fleck said, licking a paw and swiping it over the side of his face. "All determined to fill the world with kits, and have them grow to be warriors." He lowered his damp forepaw back to the ground, looking at Crookedstar steadily.

"They have to be apprentices in between," Crookedstar said. "To a mentor in the Clan. But you were almost mine, for that moon here."

Fleck considered that. "Taught you some about that injury of yours, and hunting," he acknowledged.

Crookedstar said, "Showed me the territory, and how to help the other cats, Mitzi and the kits." As he stood surrounded by the once familiar scents, he felt a little wistful for that moon of his life. It had been like a Clan in many ways. That core of kin. Crookedstar had his Clan to lead, his own kin to watch over, as Fleck had once watched over him.


End file.
